C H A 
CHARE'NTE, a river of France, winch rifes In the 
■department of the Upper Vienne, paffes by, or near to, 
“Civray, RufFec, Verteuil, Mantle, Angoulefme, Jarnac, 
Cogiiac, Saintes, Rochefort, &c. and runs into the fea, 
about eight miles below Rochefort, oppolite the Ille of 
Oleron. 
CHARE'NTE- (department of), one of the new divi- 
iions of France, bounded on the north by the depart¬ 
ment of the Vienne, on the eaft by Upper Vienne, on the 
fouth by the department of the Dordogne, and on the welt 
by the department of the Lower Charente. It takes its 
.name from the river Charente, which paffes through it: 
above fifty-fix miles in length from north-eaft to fouth-welt 
and thirty wide on an average. Angoulefine is the capital. 
CHARE'NTE (Lower, department of), one of the 
new divifions of France, fituated on the fea coaft, north 
of the river Gironde, taking its name from the river Cha¬ 
rente, which erodes it nearly in its centre: rather more 
than eighty miles in length; the breadth is very un¬ 
equal, towards the fouth about ten miles, towards the 
north twenty, and in lome parts nearly forty. Saintes 
is the capital. 
CHARENTENAY', a town of France, in the depart¬ 
ed the Yonne : feven miles fouth of Auxerre. 
CHARENTON', a town of France, in the department 
of Paris, and chief place of a canton, in the diltridt of 
Bourg-la-Reine : one league fouth-eaft of Paris. 
CHARENTON', a town of France, in the department 
of the Cher, and chief place of a canton, in the diftrict 
of St. Amand: five miles eaft of St. Amand, and twen¬ 
ty-one fouth-fouth-eaft of Bourges. 
CHARE'RA (La), a town of the illand of Cuba : five 
miles weft of Havannali. 
CHARE'RI, a town of Italy, in the kingdom of Na¬ 
ples, and province of Calabria Ultra: nine miles fouth 
of Girace. 
CHARE'RI, a river of Italy, in the kingdom of Na¬ 
ples, which runs into the lea, ten miles fouth-fouth-eaft 
of Girace. 
CHA'RES,/. An ancient ftatuary and difciple ofLy- 
fippus, who immortalized himfelf by the colofs of the 
fun at Rhodes, which has been reckoned one of the feven 
wonders of the world. This ftatue was of brafs, and 
above a hundred feet high; and was placed at the en¬ 
trance of the harbour at Rhodes, with the feet upon two 
rocks, in fuch a manner, that Ihips could pafs in full fail 
betwixt its legs. Chares employed twelve years in credit¬ 
ing it; and, after Handing forty-fix, it was thrown down 
by an earthquake. Moavius, a caliph of the Saracens, 
who invaded Rhodes in 667, fold it to a Jew merchant, 
who' is faid to have loaded nine hundred camels with the 
fragments of it. 
CHARET'TE (M.), the celebrated leader of the 
French royalilts in La Vendee. He was born at Mache- 
could, near Nantz ; where, on the 10th of March 1792, 
he let up the royal ftandard, and proclaimed Louis XVII. 
At this time he was only twenty-eight years of age; he 
had been brought up to the lea, and was, at the time of 
the revolution, a lieutenant in the royal navy. His army 
confifted at firft of a rude and hardy race of men, called 
the Chouans , who took their name from three fons of a 
blackfmith of the name of Chouan, near Fougeres. They 
had been for many years no better than highway rob¬ 
bers, a kind of banditti, who Iheltered themfelves in the 
vaft Forefts of La Vendee, and, as they increafed, they fup- 
ported themfelves by fmuggling. The rugged face of the 
country, full of impenetrable woods, interfperled with 
bogs and fwamps, always afforded them a lecure retreat; 
and it js faid, that under the fanguinary government of 
Robefpierre, fo many flew to the woods for lafety, and 
joined the Chouans, that they were foon 30,000 ltrong, 
and afterwards increafed to ji. prodigious number. We 
cannot, in this place, follow Charette through his ar¬ 
duous and interefting campaigns, it being a lubjeft that 
comes more properly under the article France ; but we 
Vox.. IV. No-182, 
C H A 109 
muft obferve that, fince the beginning of the war, in no 
part whatever have the battles been fo dreadful as in 
La Vendee. Many obftinate contentions on the fron¬ 
tiers were but (kirmilhes compared with thefe: fcarcely 
did a Angle action take place, in which one or other of 
the contending armies was not almolt wholly deftroyed. 
The battle of Mortagne coft both'fides 30,000 men, in 
that of Saumur 10,coo republicans were killed, and 
15,000 made prifoners; and in that of Mons the royal- 
ifts left 15,000 dead on the field of battle, while the lofs 
of the republicans was not much lefs. Reports made to 
the directory have ftated that the war in La Vendee coft 
the republic upwards of 200,000 men. The failure of 
our co-operation at Quiberon, gave a death blow to the 
exertions of Charette; and his lubfequent defeat at St. 
Chriltopher’s, by Traveaux, put an end to the Vendeait 
war, and haftened his fate. The pealants who ef- 
caped from the adtion, abandoning him entirely, he re¬ 
mained with about forty men, who would not quit him, 
either becaufe they were deferters from the enemy, or 
becaufe their confcience would not fuffer them to break 
the oath they had taken not to leave him in any extre¬ 
mity. Charette now came to a relblution to taxe refuge 
in the woods, out of which he never ventured more. 
The republicans, who purfued him, marched in fmall 
columns of from fifty to lixty men, beating about, par¬ 
ticularly in the forefts of Jauvoye, of Grala, the woods 
of Des Effarts, and all thole that exift in the commune 
of Leger. His great knowledge of the country often 
contributed to fave him, no lefs than the excellent fyf- 
tem of tadtics he had adopted. He knew, by means of 
his fpies, the place at which his purfiuers were to halt for 
the night. The next morning he watched the moment 
of their departure, and the road they took, and in that 
manner followed them till they halted again, fo that 
when they believed they had him in front of them, he 
was almolt always in their rear. It fometimes happened 
that they purfued him a whole day in the foreft of Jau¬ 
voye, without being able to difcover him, although per¬ 
fectly fure he was there, while the only way. he took to 
efcape, was by keeping the lame path as they. The pea- 
fants always concealed him, fome out of fear, and others 
from a principle of attachment. He was however grown 
cruel, even towards thole who had ferved him; and 
more than once killed peafants w'ho were ploughing their 
grounds, left they fhould betray him and indicate his 
noute. In the commune of St. Hillaire, near Paluan, he 
put to death, with his own hand, the father, the Ion, and 
the fon-in-law, upon mere fufpicion. He was alio grown 
melancholy; the idea of his deftrudlion inceffantly haunt¬ 
ing his mind. At length his evil deftiny overtook him. 
A republican column was returning to their canton¬ 
ment at the Chateau de Pont-de-vie, near the town of 
Poires, four days after they had left it, in order to pro¬ 
cure provifions, and take a little reft, when two horfe- 
men, upon the look-out, law the gleam of arms break 
through the trees. Of this they immediately informed 
the general, who advanced, without lofing a moment, at 
the head of the few troopers he had with him, and foon 
perceived that it was the band of Charette, which was 
defiling two a-breaft acrofs a heath of fmall extent. The 
general rode through the two ranks, in order to difcover 
if their chief was among them, while they, more eager 
to fave than to defend themfelves, fired only two or three 
fliot, which took no ertedh The general ordered the 
infantry to attack them, when, out of thirty-feven, 
four only efcaped. The cavalry being difperfed along 
the different roads in learch of the principal chief, a 
young man without arms, and in the livery of a fervant, 
was perceived by two horfe chaffeurs coming out of a 
morals. They rode up to him, and requelted him to 
tell them where Charette was to be found. The young 
man at firft denied having feen him, but a few Itrokee of 
the labre made him confefs that the renowned comman¬ 
der of the royalilts was in the very morals that he had 
F f juft 
